Author: Jenna Benchetrit

Canada Post has not agreed to delay a potential strike by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), effectively pushing the union to agree to its latest offer ahead of a planned labour action set to begin Friday.According to negotiator Jim Gallant, the union had proposed a two-week pause on the strike — potentially the second in six months — as it reviewed Canada Post’s latest offer on Wednesday.That offer, addressed to the union’s urban and rural-suburban bargaining units, proposes a 13.59 per cent wage increase distributed across a four-year period: six per cent in the first year, three per cent in the second year, and two per cent in the third and fourth year.It also proposes six personal days to be locked into the next collective agreement, and what it referred to as “better” income replacement for those on short-term disability leave.A statement shared by spokesperson Lisa Liu added that the corporation proposed “important changes to its delivery model” to increase flexibility and help Canada Post address its financial challenges.It’s withdrawing the proposals it made in its last offer to the union, including a new health benefits plan, changes to post-retirement benefits and enrolling new employees into its defined pension benefit plan.The offer comes after Canada Post paused negotiations for a new collective agreement last week.A CUPW representative shared a statement saying that Canada Post’s “refusal” to accept a two-week pause comes “at a critical time” as the union reviews the offer.”Reviewing legal wording takes time and careful evaluation. We need to properly assess the offers to ensure they respect the needs of postal workers. The stakes couldn’t be higher,” read the statement.”Canada Post was well aware of the deadline for a disruption. We were hoping that, given they were causing the delay, we’d see a substantial offer on the table with the appropriate time for a review.”No ‘meaningful changes’ Weekend delivery has been a point of contention during negotiations between the Crown corporation and the union. Canada Post doesn’t currently operate on the weekends, and both sides want to expand operations but disagree on the details.While the company wants to hire part-time workers for shifts on Saturdays and Sundays, the union has pushed for full-time employees to take on that work, arguing that the Post is trying to make gig work a part of its business model.Canada Post spokesperson Jon Hamilton told CBC’s Power & Politics in an interview Tuesday that the corporation and the union discussions over the last several months hadn’t led to any “meaningful changes.”He said that the company, after reviewing recommendations made by the Industrial Inquiry Commission released last week, wanted to reflect on the commission’s findings before presenting the union with another offer.Canada Post has lost more than $3 billion before tax since 2018 and is on track to record more losses this year, according to the company. The Crown corporation has stressed that its dire financial circumstances were exacerbated by a 55,000-member strike that began on Nov. 15 and lasted about a month before the federal government intervened.The government announced in January that it would lend Canada Post more than $1 billion in repayable funds to protect it from insolvency.

Canada’s inflation rate eased to 1.7 per cent in April, driven by a drop in prices after the federal government removed the consumer carbon tax, according to Statistics Canada.The slowdown came after the inflation rate hit 2.3 per cent in March. Lower crude oil prices were also a factor in the decline, the data agency said. Despite the decline in headline inflation, core inflation measures all rose in April, some above three per cent — well above the Bank of Canada’s two per cent target rate.The central bank watches those numbers closely because they strip out volatile sectors and don’t factor in one-offs like the removal of the carbon tax.”The big relief from lower gasoline prices in April masked an unfriendly inflation picture beneath the surface. Some of that upswing in underlying prices appears related to the simmering trade war,” BMO chief economist Douglas Porter wrote, noting a flare-up in the cost of groceries and autos.”After a weak jobs report handed the Bank a good reason to cut, this back-up in core above 3 [per cent] pretty much washes that away,” Porter wrote.The central bank is set to make its next interest rate decision on June 4. Porter still expects that the Bank of Canada will cut, given the outlook for weak economic growth in 2025, but said the bank might need more time to see how inflation plays out.Pump and shelter prices down, grocery prices upAs the divisive carbon tax ended, gasoline prices took a nosedive, dropping 18.1 per cent in April compared to a year earlier. Natural gas prices fell 14.1 per cent during the same period, StatsCan noted.Tu Nguyen, an economist at RSM Canada, wrote that shelter also put some downward pressure on inflation last month.A customer shops at a Metro grocery store in Montreal in October 2022. Even as consumers paid less at the pump and housing inflation simmered down, groceries were more expensive in April, increasing 3.8 per cent year-over-year compared with 3.2 per cent in March.